- Date posted
- 3y
- Date posted
- 3y
I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this. I have been where you are with the fear of “what if I sexually assaulted someone which means I did something horrible and am going to be arrested” and it is an awful, awful feeling. What you’re experiencing very much sounds like OCD to me. My psychiatrist once told me that harm OCD that focuses on “what if I sexually assaulted someone” is quite common. In my experience, I did ERP with this topic (exposures looked like saying to myself “maybe I did sexually assault someone”— which was totally terrifying of course, but it ultimately diminished some of the power this obsession had over me). I know where you are feels horrible— and I can tell you from my experience that it is possible to get some distance from these obsessions by doing exposures, as difficult as they are.
- Date posted
- 3y
Okay thank you for your reply! I have a pretty good idea it’s OCD because my gut instinct was to ask in this OCD forum! But my god the anxiety and guilt is horrible. My main obsessions have always been about my sexual health and stds = I’m gonna be abandoned, so I’m guessing it’s a remix of that old fear I never fully recovered from? I’ve had some dodgy experiences with men(dates) in the past that could maybe be considered sexual assault and my toxic ex used to use that against me in arguements too. I dunno if it’s fair to say there’s connections getting crosswired in my anxious brain? I’ve also been spiked in the past before but as far as I’m aware I was never assaulted
- Date posted
- 3y
@uwotm8 Not during the spiking incident I wasn’t anyway.. some other experiences I ended up agreeing to when I felt I couldn’t say no, and also things like I didn’t agree to during sex were just…done to me midway in other scenarios
- Date posted
- 3y
@uwotm8 What you’re saying makes total sense— past traumatic experiences with sex and dating I feel can totally inform OCD. And like you said, since sexual health and stds were your main obsession previously, this is kind of an adjacent topic so it all gets mixed into a whole new miserable obsession. The anxiety and guilt are truly horrible. Hang in there!
- Date posted
- 3y
@ari3 Thank you for your help, it just sucks! I have therapy for generic stuff since I left my abusive relationship, but maybe I’ll try getting help specifically for that now, I do think I’ve been gaslighting myself into believing these things weren’t that bad and shouldn’t bother me, and maybe that’s why I’m struggling so much
- Date posted
- 3y
@uwotm8 No problem! It really does suck. Going to therapy for this sounds like a great idea—it definitely helped me a lot. You deserve to not be burdened by this anymore!
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
TW// MENTION OF DR8GS, SXUAL CONTENT false memory ocd is targeting my earlier teen years, around 16, I had a friend and we both did droogs (spelled it like that for a reason) one time together. I was scared to do the other stuff we had so she did it. but I remember us like touching eachothers chest as like girl stuff I guess idk it was weird lol… like about our sizes but then later on I had asked her smthng about ohh “would u ever wanna do stuff? or would u feel like that’s weird” something along those lines… and I remember her saying “ohhh I mean idk I would but I wouldn’t want it to make things weird between us”.. now here’s my thing. I remember just agreeing and accepting it and moving on, but obviously feeling weird cus that was sortve rejection. But my brain is saying what if u kept asking? Or questioned her? (We never did anything but likeee my ocd is like what if u tried to push it) and my brain is like what if u wanted to do it just bc she was under influence? I wanted us both to do it while under influence 1. Because we wouldn’t be anxious 2. I thought it would be fun at the time 3. I felt like it would be less weird if we were high. I did not PLAN for us to do these substances just for this reason but it was in my head that maybe we would do stuff if we had a sleepover or something plus I had just gotten out of a relationship with a guy and I also like girls. All im thinking is what if she said yes? MY high wore off before hers and hers was lasting longer so she would’ve been under the influence and that would’ve been super bad I would’ve felt like I 🍇 her or something… that’s why im scared right now. Idk if these what ifs are true and I literally am sick with uncertainty. If it’s true that would make me feel so terrible, like a predator (like I tried to coerce her or something) but idk what’s true and what’s not. I just remember this false memory being triggered by the fact that I asked when we were on stuff but my stuff had already wore off is what’s bothering me. (We took different things) I remember worrying about this false memory before, and was able to move on. Also me and that girl were friends for a couple years after that until we fell out over stupidity. And we also had sleepovers after that and idk if I already asked her for reassurance like ohhh are u sure I didn’t make u uncomfortable.. but idk if I did. I want to ask but I can’t because I guess she is not around right now. Like MIA.(her own personal stuff im assuming) Any advice would help :(
- Date posted
- 24w
I went out 2 years ago with some friends and I can’t remember some of the night - we went to a house party and my friends say nothing happened but I’m so afraid that I cheated on my partner and don’t remember it. It’s consuming my every minute and I can’t let it go. I was reading up on false memory ocd the other day and it triggered me into thinking what if something I imagined happening actually happened and I don’t know what to do and I’m scared that because I imagined something a certain way that if it wasn’t the same thing I imagined that it must be true
- Date posted
- 22w
Hello all, I’ve dealt with various OCD themes and compulsions for pretty much as long as I can remember. In some periods of my life the thoughts and compulsions have been particularly severe, but I’ve also had years where I’m able to keep it under control. This has made me worry I don’t actually have OCD, especially because I haven’t been doing consistent therapy and my therapists have gone back and forth on whether I have OCD. In the past few years, I’ve struggled immensely with false memory ocd, and right now I’m going through probably the most severe episode of my life. I love my boyfriend with all my heart. A few times that I’ve gone out drinking I’ve had the thought before “what if I lost control and cheated tonight” and it’s bothered me severely. Two times before, it’s gotten to the point of convincing myself that because I talked to a man that meant I had cheated on my boyfriend and just couldn’t remember. It has never turned out to be true. About a month ago, I went out with friends and had too much to drink. I was really ashamed of myself the next morning, particularly because I always try to drink cautiously now that I know it can trigger my anxiety. I am ashamed to admit I do not remember the very end of the night getting in my uber and going home. I woke up anxious and extremely worried and immediately started off by worrying if I could have tried to kiss my friend and not remembered. I called him and was immediately reassured nothing had happened, I simply drank too much and went home at the end of the night. I started feeling better, but then remembered a moment I had been in the bathroom. I remembered chatting with people in line about how long the line was, and then being in the bathroom on my phone. I then felt like I remembered people knocking and saying to myself “that wasn’t that long” and leaving. There is nothing concrete that I remember that in any way indicates I cheated, and in fact I have texts with my boyfriend from the whole night telling him I loved him. My friend told me that the only time I was ever apart from him was about 5 minutes and that when he came back I was in the same exact spot he left me in. However, when I remembered being in the bathroom, I thought to myself “what if you cheated on him in the bathroom”/ “oh my god did you cheat on him in the bathroom” and then a series of images of me performing sexual acts popped into my head. I’ve poured over my memory and truly do not remember meeting anyone, talking to anyone, or even finding anyone attractive that night, but the fact that I was drinking makes me worried I’m just forgetting and these images could be real. I’ve been constantly ruminating on these fears for the past month, to the point that the only relief I feel is when I’m able to fall asleep. I’m a law student and it’s becoming extremely difficult to keep up with my classes. I’ve been google searching, asked chat gpt for advice, confessed my fears to my boyfriend, asked for reassurance from pretty much everyone in my life, and even emailed the bar asking for security footage (which I know all sounds insane). I’m a naturally guilty person and feel bad about small things, so I really don’t think I would be capable of cheating and then nonchalantly texting my boyfriend, but these images feel so real that it’s terrifying. I’ve also seen a lot about how I would “just know” and that begins to scare me because then I think “you do just know, you did it” even though I really don’t think I did. I know these posts are not supposed to be for reassurance seeking, I’m just so exhausted and feeling really depressed. I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar and has any advice. I’m also wondering if images can feel more real the more you ruminate on them or if it’s a sign of memory. Thank you so much for listening.
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